Polybags and pillow packs may be the common currency when it comes to presenting mixed salad leaves, but Tesco has taken the step, through supplier G’s marketing, to create a whole new look.

All priced at 80p, the exclusive unwashed range, packed in a recyclable card outer with a transparent window, is under the fresh & naked label.

Carrying the additional instructions to “keep chilled” and message “just picked for you”, the rationale is that perfection - that is, leaves without bruising - finishes up on the shelf.

It includes 60g of strong mixed salad leaves (lettuce, baby spinach, baby red chard and wild rocket). There is also a mild selection (baby spinach, red chard and lamb’s lettuce), as well as solo packs of Italian wild rocket and French lamb’s lettuce.

Staying with salads, at this time of year our tomato season is in full swing, although Sainsbury’s has also included Moroccan Catalina bite-sized tomatoes in a 335g snack pack.

Over the last week, the media has carried several reports blaming the multiples for not selling English asparagus, even if it has alluded that the season is late and there is not enough to go round. As a result, Peruvian lines are is still on the shelves, while nearer home and at least saving the air miles, Lidl is sourcing from Spain.

Discounting continues to dominate and has become a highly complicated and integrated affair based on offers at Sainsbury’s. New-season English strawberries are already part of the buy-one-get-one-free campaign. With a £2.99p for 227g ticket, they are part of a deal in which the cheapest in a range of fruit is free. The others on promotion are Costa Rica supersweet pineapples at £1.99, as well as Packham pears at six for £1.99 and Mihowase satsumas at eight for £2.49, both from South Africa.

There are other less common sources turning up elsewhere, such as Portuguese kiwifruit at Aldi, with six priced at 59p.

Thailand is getting a boost as part of a drive on exotics at Tesco, in a two-for-three offer covering an elongated yellow mango called Nam Dok Mai for £2, as well as a fruit that will have most people reaching for the dictionary, known as Longkong, for £1.75. About the same size and shape as a chestnut, it is similar to a lychee, which is also part of the deal alongside mangosteens and rambutans.

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